In preparation for potential Russian supply cuts, the European Union wants additional gas supplies from Nigeria, said Matthew Baldwin, deputy director general of the European Commission’s energy department, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, Baldwin met with officials from Africa’s largest oil producer in Nigeria.

According to him, Nigeria is improving security in the Niger Delta and plans to reopen the Trans Niger pipeline after August.

Baldwin told Reuters by phone that the EU imports 14% of its total LNG supplies from Nigeria, and this number could more than double.

“If we can get up to beyond 80%, at that point, there might be additional LNG that could be available for spot cargoes to come to Europe,” Baldwin said.

“They (Nigerian officials) said to us, ‘Come and talk to us again at the end of August because we think we can deliver real progress on this’.”

NNPC Ltd, Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni all own Nigeria NLG.

Between August and March, EU member states must reduce their gas consumption by 15%, according to the European Commission. Initially, the target would be voluntary, but if the Commission declared an emergency, it would become mandatory.

Nigeria shipped 23 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to the EU last year, but the amount has been dropping over time. According to Baldwin, the bloc purchased 36 bcm of LNG from Nigeria in 2018.